Squatting Everyday

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dym123
dym123 Posts: 1,670 Member
edited April 2015 in Fitness and Exercise
So I was listening to a couple of Barbell Shrugged podcasts today and they discussed this. I was under the belief that you don't work the same body part everyday, but the guys on the podcast, including a couple of trainers (guests), touted it as a great way to build strength. These are not bodyweight squats, but weighted squats (front, back and a couple of other variations). Right now I do squats 3 days/week, 2 heavy days (at least heavy for me). I'm thinking of trying it for the next 30 days. I did check the Google, though mixed, for the most part results were good.

Has anyone tried this? What were your results? What are your thoughts? Is this just "bro science"?

Full disclosure, I had never listened to this podcast before, but the subject of squatting everyday caught my eye and I decided to listen, the next podcast just happened to discuss this issue as well.

Be kind, I'm just looking for a little feedback.

Replies

  • xcalygrl
    xcalygrl Posts: 1,897 Member
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    I squat heavy 3 days a week. Any more and my legs are too fatigued to do any good (personal experience).
  • scottacular
    scottacular Posts: 597 Member
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    It just depends entirely on how good your diet and recovery process is. Eat enough to refuel, have time between sessions to recover, do enough stretching...
  • msthang186
    msthang186 Posts: 1
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    I do weighted squats twice a week. It is not good to work the same areas constantly because you then begin being counterproductive. Your muscles need time to recover.
  • AllanMisner
    AllanMisner Posts: 4,140 Member
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    Yes, I heard the same podcast. Just realize, he didn’t train squats every day. He got under the bar and did a heavy squat every day. Basically telling his body that he expects to be able to do that as a part of everyday activity.

    When I was in high school, I would spend the Summer doing manual labor with one job we did daily being unloading a truck of copier paper. We would take hundreds of 40 and 60 lb boxes, walk them from the back of the truck into the warehouse and restack them. I adapted to being able to do that task very efficiently.

    More than anything, I believe the daily lifting will help him learn efficiently. But I don’t think it is the most effective way to develop strength. I doubt there are any studies on this type of training vs standard work/rest routines.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    I squat heavy once a week (front squats and Zercher squats), medium once a week (front squats with less weight and more reps), and light 2x/wk (goblet squats.) This routine works better for me than anything else I've done in the past. The medium/low days help me work on form and feeling comfortable with the movement and the heavy day helps me add strength.
  • CrabNebula
    CrabNebula Posts: 1,119 Member
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    My quads just packed up and took the next train out of town when they saw the thread title.
  • Willbenchforcupcakes
    Willbenchforcupcakes Posts: 4,955 Member
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    I've squatted six days a week. Light loads and slow tempo though. Only for a 4 week cycle, and it worked wonders smoothing out some issues that were going on. Wouldn't have wanted to do it under heavier loads (Max was 80%), or for any longer then four weeks.
  • greatness
    greatness Posts: 18 Member
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    I don't necessarily squat multiple days in the week but I do have so called “leg days" at least 4 times week and mostly am focused on gluteal/hip development to help me become a better runner and lifter. I understand the science behind taking adequate rest for proper muscle recovery, and overuse injuries arent just a myth. I feel as though its a mix of being intuned with what your body has to tell you in terms of muscle soreness or pain and a healthy regiment of amino acids (protein!!), vitamins, and minerals to feed our tissues. I dont lift so heavy anymore for asethetic reasons but I definitely dont skim on adding weight or reps. Im glad to see that others out there like working their lrgs as much as I do. A lot of people at my gym only do them once a week or like literally semi annually lol. But will work their chest and shoulders every other day!
  • Building_Bulk
    Building_Bulk Posts: 20,596 Member
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    I am currently doing his squat challenge. You're not doing a full blown normal squat day. Its 6 warm up sets and then 6 sets where you are building up to a max or pr if possible where you are doing 1 rep (or up to 3). It really allows you to work on form. Today was only Day 6 so from a results stand point I don't have much to offer. Really what I have noticed so far is the mental challenge of doing them every day.
  • mr_caffeine
    mr_caffeine Posts: 5 Member
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    If you are not sore or too fatigued, then why not squat everyday? People do this with pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups.... If you get sore or you feel weaker, then maybe you need to take a two or three days to recover (maybe more, your mileage may vary).
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 9,829 Member
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    I read an article where a veteran lifter, used to doing lots of sets and reps but only working legs once a week, did a daily challenge of doing squats every single day, but only doing single reps each set. He'd do as many sets per day as his body would allow, adding fifty pounds to the bar every time until he reached his max for the day. Some days this had him stopping at 300, other days not until he reached 500. (Not sure if this is the same as what sdfrcf posted, though it sounds similar.)

    He noted by the end of the month he was having more 500 days than 300 (the reverse was true at the start), but he ultimately went back to doing his once/week routine since he liked to really hammer his legs into submission. So yes, you can if you don't hammer your legs too far that you can't recover for the next day. But I'll stick to my twice per week (once heavy sets of 3, the other light sets of 10).

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